1. Yes, the most notable are the human T cell leukemia viruses types 1&2
(causes T cell lymphoma).
2. HIV has been isolated an enormous number of times by an inestimable
number of individuals (We did it in our laboratory on a daily basis starting
with whole blood from AIDS patients).
3. This is a very complex issue. This question relates to the fact that
very low concentrations of circulating HIV are detectable in many AIDS
patients. This leads some to naively conclude that the virus therefore
could not be responsible for the disease. This is a false conclusion that
greatly oversimplifies what occurs during a viral infection. Viruses may
not directly kill human cells, yet their replication may still be able to
cause significant disease. The simplest way to envision what occurs in the
pathogenesis of many viral diseases is that the virus may not cause direct
damage to tissue, but rather may initiate a chain of events involving
numerous body systems (inflammatory cells etc.) that ultimately lead to
disease and even death. Bear in mind that we know that a very small amount
of Ebola virus can kill, yet we have very little hard data demonstrating
that the virus can destroy any human tissue.
-----Original Message-----
From: Kamilla Ludwig [mailto:kamillal@worldnet.att.net]
Sent: Thursday, January 06, 2000 12:34 PM
To: asa@calvin.edu
Subject: AIDS questions
I've been looking and reading the past few days and there are still some
questions by the AIDS/HIV skeptics that I haven't been able to find
answers to:
1) Are there any other known retroviral diseases in humans?
2) Is it true that HIV itself has never been isolated, only secondary
markers? (I believe the case is similar with Hepatitis C)
3) Is it true, as they contend, that the amount of virus apparently
present is insufficient to cause disease?
I appreciate anywhere you can direct me to get answers to these further
questions.
Kamilla
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